Concept2 Model E Review: The Rower That Outlasts Everything

The Concept2 Model E is the taller, sturdier sibling of the Model D, the air rower that has quietly become the default machine for anyone serious about rowing, from Olympic squads to CrossFit boxes to spare bedrooms across the country. It does one thing and does it better than anything else: it gives you an accurate, consistent, brutally effective full-body cardio workout, and it keeps doing it for twenty years. The Model E's whole reason to exist is a seat raised to 20 inches off the floor, which sounds trivial until your knees, hips or age make climbing on and off a low rower a daily annoyance. If that's you, this is the Concept2 to buy.

Everything that made the Model D a benchmark carries over. You get the same air-resistance flywheel with a 1-to-10 spiral damper, the same PM5 monitor that competitive rowers trust for its accuracy, and the same smooth, self-selecting resistance that gives you back exactly what you put in. What the Model E adds on top is a more solid, slightly heavier frame, a higher seat, and a fully protected nickel-plated chain. What it doesn't add is a lower price, and that's the honest catch: it's a premium machine at a premium price, and the payoff is measured in decades of use rather than features on a box.

Who it is for

The Model E makes the most sense for a specific group: taller people, anyone with knee, hip or back issues that make a low seat a struggle, older rowers, and households where more than one person will use it and getting on and off easily matters. The raised seat is the reason to pay more. If you're young, mobile and just want the best rowing workout for the lowest Concept2 price, the Model D is the smarter buy and rows identically. Either way, you're getting the machine most serious rowers would pick, and rowing itself is a rare full-body cardio move that hits around 86% of your muscles in one stroke.

Build and feel

This is where the Model E justifies itself. The frame is welded steel and aluminium with a double powder-coat, and it feels like it could survive a house move without noticing. The higher seat sits on a beefier front leg assembly, and the whole thing has a planted, no-flex solidity that cheaper rowers can't match. The nickel-plated chain, which connects the handle to the flywheel, is better shrouded than on the Model D, so it stays cleaner and needs less frequent oiling.

Getting on and off is the daily difference. At 20 inches, the seat is roughly chair height, so you sit down onto it rather than lowering yourself to the floor and hauling yourself back up. Small thing, big deal if your joints protest. The handle, footplates and flexible foot straps are the same proven Concept2 design, comfortable over long sessions and quick to adjust for different shoe sizes.

Performance and monitor

On the water, or rather on the rail, the Model E rows exactly like every other Concept2, which is the whole point. The air resistance responds to how hard you pull: ease off and it eases with you, attack the stroke and it fights back, so a single machine covers a gentle recovery row and an all-out interval without you touching a dial mid-set. The damper adjusts how the air feels, lower for a lighter, faster catch, higher for a heavier, more grinding pull, but it isn't a difficulty setting; your effort sets the difficulty.

The PM5 monitor is the reason data-driven rowers won't use anything else. It shows pace per 500m, watts, calories, distance, time and stroke rate, saves your workouts, and pairs over Bluetooth and ANT+ with heart rate belts and apps. Concept2's own ErgData app and online logbook are free and genuinely good, and the machine plugs into third-party training apps too. Crucially, the numbers are consistent between machines, so your split on this rower means the same as on one in a gym across the country. Regular rowing like this delivers real cardiovascular and body-composition benefits, with studies showing measurable changes over a training block (study on indoor rowing and body composition), and it counts toward the 150 minutes of weekly activity the NHS recommends.

Noise, storage and value

The honest downside is the sound. Because it moves air, the Model E whooshes on every pull, and it's louder than a magnetic rower's near-silence or the gentle swish of a water rower. It's not harsh, and most people talk or watch TV straight over it, but if silent early-morning sessions in a thin-walled flat are non-negotiable, factor that in. Storage is better than the machine's length suggests: pull the pin, separate it into two parts, stand the front section up, and it lives in a corner.

On value, the Model E is expensive up front and superb over time. Spread the cost across the fifteen-plus years these machines routinely last, factor in that it barely depreciates second-hand and that spares keep old ones running, and it works out cheaper per year than a string of budget rowers that die and get binned. The rowing itself is brilliant, low-impact, full-body cardio that's kind to your joints and hard on your fitness, which is why the Concept2 range tops our best rowing machine guide. Whether the raised seat is worth the premium over the Model D is the only real question, and only your knees can answer it.